It’s been awhile, I know, but trust me, the Milwaukee School of Engineering Supermileage Vehicle team has not been sitting idle. The team members have been working like maniacs to make sure their car is in great shape for the competition on June 10 and 11.

The carbon fiber body was completed a few weeks ago, but are you curious to find out how exactly those engineers made it happen? Take a look at this video to watch how they did it!

The body is now fully assembled and the car is running. Last weekend, the team spent a rainy Saturday in the rain testing the vehicle. They put about fifteen (wet) miles on the car – talk about dedication! While the testing team was outside, the rest of the crew was working on the electronic fuel injection (EFI) engine.

This week, the team is putting on the top of the car and will begin testing with the entire car. After putting at least 30 more miles on the vehicle, the team will begin the final preparation stage to get ready for the competition.

After a long, successful spring break, the SMV team has completed the carbon fiber body. Of course, there’s still plenty to do, but the team is right on track.

Sleek, sexy carbon fiber...mmm

A couple weeks ago, I talked a bit about how it can be better for the environment to continue to drive older, fuel efficient cars rather than buy new cars, which take resources and produce carbon emissions to make. I plan on driving my car until it peters out on me, but I’m nothing compared to these car-loving auto owners who told their stories on CNN’s iReport.

Here are a few of my favorite stories.

This guy has a self-admitted obsession with his Acura Legend Coupe. With over 400,000 miles on it, he’s visited 40 states (including Alaska) and is still running with the original transmission and engine. The guy even keeps a spreadsheet of all the maintenance he’s done on the car; he’ll email it to you if you don’t believe him. Here’s a video (with swanky music) of the car turning 400k.

Here’s a Dodge Neon that has over half a million miles on it. Its owner bought it new with a grand total of 12 miles on it; I guess you could say they’ve had a lot of time to get to know each other in the 12 years he’s had the car. Even now, with that super high mileage on the car, the guy’s biggest fear is getting into an accident and having insurance companies refuse to fix the car because of its lack of KBB value. The car is claimed to routinely get at least 32 mpg, which is pretty great regardless of car model.

This woman and her Ford F-150 prove that you don’t have to have a tiny car to drive it forever. She’s got over 325,000 miles on her truck and all she’s had to do is replace the transmission at 150k and change the oil regularly. So even if you drive a bigger car or truck, you can still suck every last drop of life out of it!

I have to put this one in here because it’s a bit unbelievable, but seems to have the proof to back it up. Here’s a 2007 Toyota Yaris with an incredible 400,000 miles on it. Apparently, its owner has to drive a ton for work (and trust me, to put on that many miles in four years is a huge amount of driving). The car still has most of its original parts, although it did need a new alternator and new shoes and pads. I don’t know how long the car will last with its owners accident-prone driving style, but that is a lot of miles!

Last but not least, let’s give some props to those fantastic Germans. This guy (and his mom) have been driving their ’89 Mercedes Benz 300E for almost 300,000 miles. Despite surviving a crash with a newbie driver, the car has had minimal problems and has stalled out only four times in its lifetime.

Moral of these stories: loving your car might keep it alive longer, just because it’s old/has lots of miles doesn’t mean it isn’t useful, and change your oil! I know we’re American; we tend to like new, shiny, cool things. We talk about that “new car smell.” But sometimes the things we can get the most pleasure from are neither new nor especially pretty. Take stock of what your actual needs are and decide accordingly. And if you need help keeping your jalopy alive, talk to one of those guys from iReport!

The team is (as ever) hard at work. The Milwaukee School of Engineering is on spring break, but that means little to these dedicated engineers who are putting in hours every day.

This week, one big project is finishing the carbon fiber body. They’ve finished the bottom of the body and the chassis (and if I may say so myself, both turned out beautifully, super smooth and glassy). Now, they’ve moved on to the top of the body, which we last saw in the fiberglass form (much thanks to Midwest Composite Technologies for all their help with the car body!). The team laid out the carbon fiber, bonded it together, and now it’s sealed away in its vacuum-induced sleep, ready to awake in four to five days, now prepared for the challenges the team will throw at it.

On a different note, can you tell I’m not an engineer? Anyways, take a look at the top of the body.

And now the waiting game commences...

As you may remember, the team will compete with their car coming up June 10-11 in Marshall, Michigan. While this is certainly the number one priority, the fun doesn’t stop there. The car (we really need a name for this thing) will be displayed July 8-11 at Discovery World in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.

The whole exhibit will feature the SMV, several antique microcars, and example(s) of hybrid vehicles. We are so grateful to have this opportunity and when the team gets the rare break from working on the car, they’re working on the museum exhibit.

For those of you who aren’t familiar with the Milwaukee, Wisconsin area, Discovery World sits right on Lake Michigan next to Summerfest grounds. The location is absolutely gorgeous and the museum is a lot of fun; it says it tries to connect “innovation, science, technology and the environment with exploration and learning through interactive exhibits and experiential learning programs.”

What a gorgeous location!

Really, what better venue could we have? The SMV team definitely covers the bases in Discovery World’s mission. In addition to the cars, we will have interactive, hands-on exhibits for kids to enjoy. At the end of the day, we’re hoping to provide interesting, relevant information about the history and future of fuel-efficient vehicles. However cliched it sounds, the children are our future, and this is stuff they should know. We think so, at least!

We will also hopefully have guest speakers, including an insurance representative to explain what car insurance is and why we need it. While this perhaps doesn’t sound super exciting, how many of you really know how insurance works, or what to do if you’re in an accident, or how to change your insurance plan? Yeah. Didn’t think so.

To be honest, I’m really excited for the SMV team to have this great opportunity to meet with the public. The SMV engineers are so enthusiastic and committed to what they do. They were the kids who wanted to know how everything works, and by now, they’re well on their ways to figuring out all that stuff. This gives them a chance to interact with the next generation of engineers who will be working to solve the world’s problems. And no matter how hard I try, I don’t speak “engineer.” But the team does, and this is a fantastic chance for them to inspire the up and coming students.

Last weekend, the MSOE Supermileage Vehicle team had some big, important work to do: laying out the carbon fiber for the lower half of the body and the car frame (the piece the driver half sits/half lays on). I know there are some pretty complex steps involved, so I’ll leave the explaining to the rest of the team (you can expect a video of the process soon!). But essentially, three layers of carbon fiber are glued together and put in a giant vacuum sealer to cure for about four or five days. And then, voila! A gorgeous carbon fiber body!

There it is - the bottom of the body.

Not everyone was helping out with the body, though. About half of the team was in the machine shop, working hard on the steering and other mechanical components of the vehicle. I got a chance to speak with most of the team members; you can look forward to a video about the team in the future, too.

Everything is moving right along.

Not your typical driver's seat, huh?

But as the team was sitting around answering all my questions, something interesting came up. One of the guys said he hoped people realize just how much time was put into this project. Sven, team president, disagreed.

“Our time doesn’t matter to anyone except us,” Sven said. “We know how much time we put in, but everyone else will just care about the finished product.”

His comment got me thinking. Sven’s probably right; no one will care about the thousands of collective hours he and his teammates have put into this car (even though I definitely think they shoul). But I don’t think that problem is singular to the MSOE SMV. I think people tend to care more about the finished product and its attributes or flaws without realizing the labor and brainpower behind it. Whether the product is a new car or a new computer or an innovative piece of technology, everything takes work. Even the poor ideas or inventions often require copious amounts of effort.

I think if we can understand this, not just about SMVs but about everything new and different, we might be a little more accepting, a little more understanding. Nothing happens overnight. So if you want better cars, better computers, better anythings, acknowledge the work. Acknowledge that people are trying and probably doing the best they can. Do the best you can. And put in the work, whatever else you do.

It’s pretty easy to be pessimistic about the way things are right now. Looking ahead to the future, there doesn’t seem to be any major issue facing our country that has an easy solution. Think about it: the economy, foreign affairs, the health of our citizens, the environment, politics. We’ve got some big problems, and it’s pretty easy to get disheartened.

But there’s an upside (or at least I have to think there’s an upside – life would be way too depressing otherwise). Now is an exciting time to be working on this stuff. There is no clear answer, which means there is hopefully room for innovative, off-the-wall ideas. I mean, you’ve seen those SMVs. None of them will be heading out on the roadways anytime soon! But they can help us change the rulebook we play by.

Look familiar? As one of the first computers, probably not. But look where the computer is today!

(Speaking of those hardworking SMVers, the fiberglass molds came out beautifully and they’ll be working on laying out the carbon fiber this weekend. I should be heading down there to get a full report, so stay tuned!)

It’s really easy to shoot down new ideas when we first hear them. I do it myself all the time, even if I try not to. Believing in something, trusting in something means you have to put yourself out there. You’re opening yourself up to failure and disappointment and probably to mockery if you put your faith in something that didn’t work. Yet this is the way forward. It’s murky and messy with no guarantees, but think about how far we’ve come in the last hundred years and what might be possible in the next century if we can ignore the chips on our shoulders and take a chance on something that seems insane. You’ll probably get burned and lord knows there will be a ton of people ready to pick your bones, but do it anyways, because even if you never see something tangible, even if it seems impossible, one day you’ll cross the line from unimaginable to reality.

And then it will all have been worth it.

Don’t take the simple path. We all you’re better than that.

Keeping that in mind, we’re going to delve into some pretty unorthodox technologies in the next few days. Don’t shut it out right away. Just because things have been done one way for as long as you’ve known them doesn’t mean anything.

We are in the shop! I’m still kinda itchy from the fiberglass! Check out the video; you can learn how the team made the molds for the carbon fiber car body (thanks to the generosity of Midwest Composite Technologies of Hartland, Wisconsin!).